President Trump Orders that “All Biden Era U.S. Attorneys” at DOJ be Fired.

The US Department of Justice has been directed by President Trump to fire all U.S. Attorneys who were hired during Joe Biden’s administration. Each federal judicial district has a U.S. Attorney, who oversees all the federal prosecutions in that district. In total, there are 93 U.S. Attorneys.

Mr. Trump said he was taking this action in order to rebuild a “fair justice system” in the nation.

On his social media platform, Truth Social, the President posted:

“Over the past four years, the Department of Justice has been politicized like never before. Therefore, I have instructed the termination of ALL remaining “Biden Era” U.S. Attorneys. We must “clean house” IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence. America’s Golden Age must have a fair Justice System – THAT BEGINS TODAY!”

It has become “customary” for all U.S. Attorneys to be terminated when a new President, of a different political party, takes power. Back in 2007, Stuart M. Gerson, who had served as the Acting Attorney General in the Clinton Administration, explained:

“It is customary for a President to replace U.S. Attorneys at the beginning of a term. Ronald Reagan replaced every sitting U.S. Attorney when he appointed his first Attorney General. President Clinton, acting through me as Acting Attorney General, did the same thing, even with few permanent candidates in mind. … [R]eplacing them is entirely the prerogative of the executive, as each deposed U.S. Attorney has agreed.”

In March 2017, the first Trump Administration fired 46 federal prosecutors who had served in the Justice Department under President Barack Obama. Others had previously resigned.

In February 2021, the Biden Administration The Biden administration gave notice that all Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys appointed during the Trump administration were being terminated, with two exceptions: (1) John Durham remained in place to investigate the origins of the Russia probe (aka the Russia “hoax”), but he lost his seat as U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut, and thereafter served only as a Special Counsel; and (2) David Weiss, U.S. attorney for Delaware, remained in place in order to continue the investigation into Hunter Biden’s failure to pay federal income taxes. The long-overdue unpaid taxes were forgiven when Biden pardoned his son in the last days of his administration.

A week ago, on Feb. 5th, newly sworn-in Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memorandum advising all DOJ lawyers that they would be terminated if they refused to advance legal arguments on behalf of the Trump administration. See our post, “New Attorney General Pam Bondi Lays Down the Law for DOJ Attorneys.” Her memorandum, titled, “General Policy Regarding Zealous Advocacy,” which is linked in our previous post, made clear that:

“It is therefore the policy of the Department of Justice that any attorney who because of their personal political views or judgments declines to sign a brief or appear in court, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the Administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the Department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination, consistent with applicable law.”

Several U.S. Attorneys were specifically advised last week that they had been terminated. Those who received termination emails included U.S. Attorneys in Seattle, Baltimore and San Francisco.

The Department of Justice has previously terminated all those staff attorneys who prosecuted Trump supporters for being present at, or participating in, the January 6, 2021, protest at the Capitol.